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Monday, 16 July 2012
Fire at 25, Marine Parade S(449536), East Village Hotel

At 0906 hrs, SCDF was alerted to a fire at East Village Hotel. The hotel comprises 2 adjoining buildings, namely a 2-storey front block that is under construction and a 12-storey hotel building. Upon receiving the notification, a total of 19 SCDF Vehicles were dispatched to the location (comprising Firefighting and
Supporting Vehicles). A total of 80 SCDF personnel were involved in the operations.

SCDF forces arrived within 8 minutes and upon arrival, thick black smoke was seen bellowing from the 2-storey front block of the hotel. Fire was fully engulfed in an area, measuring 70m by 70m, at the basement of the front block and the contents involved vast quantities of polystyrene boards and other construction materials, including flammable liquid.

SCDF personnel donned breathing apparatus equipment and fought the fire with 9 jets (water and foam) at the front block. Ventilation operation was also conducted at this block to disperse the thick black smoke so as to improve visibility to aid the fire-fighting operation. Simultaneously, SCDF conducted search and rescue operations and evacuated a total of 50 personnel from the main hotel building. Fire was confined to the basement of the front block of the hotel and did not spread to the adjoining main hotel building. The fire was extinguished at 1400hrs.

The main challenges of the operations were:

1) Raging fire at the basement of the front block of the hotel.

2) Zero visibility for our firefighters due to the thick black smoke which had enveloped the entire area of operation arising from the burning construction materials (mainly polystyrene boards).

3) Severe difficulty in gaining access to the seed of the basement fire due to the stacking of construction materials.

A first aid point was also set up at the ground level of the incident site to serve as an immediate on-site medical triage cum treatment area for persons who felt unwell as a result of the fire.

A total of 11 casualties were conveyed by SCDF ambulances to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).